The role of the grime producer is one that’s been given ample spotlight over the year or so. The Butterz crew are probably one of the most profiled crews who have been pushing that factor, but through his array of articles for this site Tomas Fraser (of the Uncle Albert Says blog) has attempted to help shed light on a number of other producers operating within that sphere (people like Faze Miyake, J Beatz, Splurt Diablo and Teddy Music). Considering that it’s often one producer’s beat that gets vocalled and re-vocalled by all manner of vocalists, people are conscious, now more than ever, of how a masterfully delivered vocal on a super hyped beat can make something doubly special – just look at the amount of dudes who spat on Miyake’s ‘Take Off’ instrumental and how Kozzie’s take on it really stands out amongst the slew of other versions.

Another one of those beats is ‘Circles’ by the Birmingham based, Preditah; it’s one of those strung out beats that flips effortlessly from cyclical computer game loops to tension loaded strings . It’s got that classic grime energy that comes simply from making the most of the juxtaposition between the two riffs, with the switch amping up the brutality of those scattergun snares.

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To celebrate the release of Preditah’s hotly anticipated Circles EP, a four tracker on Logan Sama’s Earth616 imprint, we’ve managed to get hold of two copies on limited edition orange vinyl. To be in with a chance of winning a copy simply email us the answer to the following question by Friday 10th Feb…

Q: What is the name of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character in the original Predator film?

Winners will be notified by email.

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Tomas Fraser also managed to grab a few words with Logan on ‘Circles’, the West Midlands and what we can expect from grime in 2012…

SR: Did you anticipate ‘Circles’ having such an impact upon first hearing it?

Logan: Yes, within 15 seconds of pressing play. I immediately rang Preditah up and said it was the lead single for the EP we were working on.

You were already working on an EP at the time? How did that come about?

Yeah, he was sending me music so often that I knew he would be a good person to work with. We did the Eightsome EP first to clear out a lot of the music people had already heard and really introduce him to a wider audience with proper promotion. Then ‘Circles’ was the next step.

Can we expect any more Preditah releases on your ‘Earth 616′ imprint?

Yeah – the Red Bull EP will be following imminently. We are continuing to work with Preditah for the forseeable future, and Adamantium Music will be also be releasing ‘Off Track’ from C4 (Preditah’s brother).

With both Preditah and C4 hailing from the West Midlands, are we starting to see the strength of grime coming from outside of the capital?

I think things coming through in groups helps people understand them. As a society we need marketing and packaging, and the current selection of grime talent coming from the West Midlands is all shining a light on the area. Lord of the Mics has also made people realise there’s some sick spitters from all over the UK.

Do you think we’ll see more of the same over the course of 2012?

Hopefully we will see people treating grime releases like they are a big deal, both the labels and artists as well as the supporters. Hopefully, eventually the media will too.